Boy faces full recovery after pool fall, 5 minutes under water

The 2-year-old Bridgewater boy off ventilator, jumping in his hospital room

Elaine Allegrini

Two-year-old Amin Abbassi's brush with death is now history.

The toddler will make a full recovery after being plucked lifeless from the family's backyard in-ground swimming pool Tuesday.

"It's a miracle," Fire Chief George Rogers said Friday after speaking with the child's mother, Rebecca Abbassi.

"He's off the ventilator, jumping up and down in his bed," Rogers said. "He'll make a full recovery."

Rogers estimates the child was under water about 5 minutes before being plucked from the pool of the family's 20 Stephanie Lane home about 6:45 p.m. Tuesday. A neighbor, Kathleen Greene, went to help, finding a frantic couple trying to revive the child and summon paramedics.

"They were very panic stricken," Greene recalled.

Police officer Robert Rae rushed the child to the first ambulance on the scene.

"He had no pulse, he was not breathing," firefighter/paramedic Carol Berghaus said the day after she and her colleagues revived the toddler. He was taken to a waiting emergency medical helicopter and flown to Children's Hospital in Boston where he is recovering.

Fire officials said the rescue combined all resources - civilians, fire, police and MedFlight - to save a life.

"The stars were aligned," Chief Rogers said.

"Everybody had a hand in this, even God," added Deputy Chief Thomas Levy.

It was all in a day's work, said the firefighters who respond daily to life-saving situations.

But, the call for a child in distress brings with an an extra sense of urgency, said Berghaus as she anticipates meeting a lively, healthy Amin.

"My reward will be when I see that child walk through the door," she said.